Little Brothers
by Punzie the Platypus
Summary: Over the course of five years, Merida has little times with her brothers that serve as fond memories. They may be mischievous wee devils, but they're her loveable little brothers, and she wouldn't have them any other way.


**Thank You, God, for everything.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Brave or Phineas and Ferb. Just saw Brave on Tuesday: LOVED IT. I'mma going to stick this in the Brave category and not in the crossover category simply due to the fact that I'm not including anything but a song from Phineas and Ferb. **

**Oh, and one more thing: FanFiction writing frenzy, stay out of the water, ****FanFiction writing frenzy, stay out of the water, ****FanFiction writing frenzy, stay out of the water!**  


Merida could barely wait to see her mum. She hadn't seen her in nearly twenty four hours. Her father had all but disappeared into their bedchambers and the maids and healers of the castle had gone crazy in the castle, rushing from the kitchen and the medicine closet to the bedchamber.******  
**

Merida had been placed under the watchful eye of Maudie, and so the eleven-year-old stayed in the kitchen most of the twenty-four hours, sipping tea grumpily, watching the maids move back and forth and whispering and wondering why there needed be so much fuss.

"What's all the fuss about? It's just a _baby_," Merida had said from her seat in the corner table. She was excited about the prospect of a brother or sister, of course, but everyone in the castle were going _crazy_, crashing into everything, whispering to each other hurriedly near her as if she didn't exist.

"Shh, Miss Merida," Maudie told her as she frantically filled another pot full of water.

"I mean, what's the big deal? What's the rush? What's with _all this water_?" the princess wanted to know.

She would now know in just a minute as Fergus, her father, led her up the stone steps up to her parents' bedchambers.

"Dad, tell _meeee_," Merida begged, for Fergus had a mischievous look in his eye and she knew that he was withholding a secret the minute he came bursting into the kitchens, yelling happily for her.

"Just a minute, lass," he said, and they reached the door.

"Now, remember, keep calm," Fergus said, even though he sounded like he wasn't all that calm at all.

"_Okay_, Dad," Merida giggled.

Fergus grinned and opened the door.

The two of them entered. The walls were a dark brown with torches hanging on them. The window was open to let in fresh, cool air to the stifling room. Maids and servants and midwives were smiling to themselves as they began to clean up.

_So that's what the hot water's for_, Merida couldn't help but think to herself. She excitedly turned to her left when she heard her mum say, "Merida!"

In her bed, Elinor lay in a sitting position of sorts, sweat on her, her long, dark hair bedraggled. Her cheeks were pink, but Merida didn't notice. She was too busy gasping at the sight of what was in Elinor's arms.

In her arms was not one, not two but _three _little brown-blanketed bundles, a tuft of red hair sticking out of each one.

"My goodness, Mum," Merida said, breathing in awe, "that's a lot of wee bairns!"

"Yes," Elinor laughed, "there's a lot of them."

"What are they?"

"All boys," Elinor told her.

"Brilliant," Merida breathed. Three little brothers! Three little brothers that she could teach stuff to, play with and be an older sister to. Older sister; she was an older sister!

"Which one's the youngest?" she wanted to know.

Elinor nodded to her left arm and said, "Harris," and then to her right arm, "and then Hubert and Hamish are older."

Merida beamed, and the three boys all at once opened their eyes, revealing them to have blue eyes.

_Just like mine_, Merida couldn't help but think.

_Little Brothers_

_I remember when you first came home _

_Then came another, little brother of our own_

"Mum! Dad!" Merida called loudly. She was throwing her stuff all over her room. Her bed was torn apart and her clothes and her good dresses were all strewn about. Her hair was tangled and she was getting a little frantic. "Mum! Dad!"

"Merida!" Merida turned to see her request answered. In her doorway appeared Queen Elinor, clean, straight and immaculate. Her finger tips were touching each other and she looked rather stern.

"Merida, a lady and a _princess_ does _not _yell like that, or," Elinor looked around the room, "tear apart her room." Grabbing her skirts, the queen rustled in. "Merida," she fretted, "these dresses are not to be treated like this!"

"Yeah, and neither should me dolls, where are they?" Merida wanted to know.

"Pardon, Merida?" Elinor said sternly, throwing Merida a look.

Merida sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Mum, I can't find me old dolls. You haven't see them, have you?"

"I thought I saw the boys playing Scots and Raiders with some toys," Elinor said.

Merida's eyes widened. "Oh no! MUM!"

Elinor sighed when Merida immediately left the room by running. She yelled, "A lady does not run!" (She instantly clapped a hand over her mouth. A lady does not yell.)

But Merida could barely hear her as she nearly trampled ten men and two maids and Maudie. She raced outside; the boys liked to be near the kitchen window in case they had a chance to sneak food.

She nearly slipped going around the corner to see her three little four-year-old brothers playing madly with her toys. They had their own little soldiers, of course, but they had taken her own little dolls to be the Raiders; their soldiers being the Scots, the Raiders got the worst bit of it.

"HAMISH! HUBERT! HARRIS!" Merida yelled as she walked to them. They all simultaneously looked to her, all looking nonplussed, each eating a large tea cake in one hand. At seeing her, their eyes instantly went down to the mess of toys at their feet.

Merida let out a strangled cry; the Scots had obviously won. Her dolls were smashed and their clothes ripped.

"Boys," she moaned as she sank to her knees. She reached out and clutched two of her dolls, both headless.

She sighed and looked from Hamish to Hubert to Harris.

"Boys, you mustn't take other people's stuff without asking first, all right?" she asked them in a tired sort of voice.

They all nodded at the same time. Merida sighed and looked back to her dolls. Even at fifteen, she still loved the little things, and now they were destroyed.

She sighed, closing her eyes, and to her surprise, when she opened them, in her hands along with her dolls was a toy soldier. She looked up to see her three brothers all looking at her, mischievous smiles on their faces.

Merida smiled and picking up one of the Raiders, yelled, "Suddenly, when everything seemed to blow over, the Raider King came back, and he was surely as mad as Mor'du!"

Elinor found them an hour later playing together in a wrestling sort of manner. She merely sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead before walking away, a slight, _slight_ smile on her face. Surely Merida could get away with playing with her brothers for one afternoon.

_Even when you break my toys _

_You will always be my_

_Little brothers_

_'Cause you're younger_

_We're related, and you're boys_

Merida sat up in bed for the umpteenth time that night. The moon shone through her window. Darkness had crept in a long time ago.

They were still up.

Yawning, Merida grabbed her robe from the floor and tugging it on, walked out into the hall.

There was still lights on the walls of the castle. She yawned again, pushed back her red hair, and looked around. Fergus was just down the hall, dressed in his own night clothes.

"They still keeping it up, then?" Merida said jokingly.

"Aye, those lads," Fergus said tiredly.

Merida grinned. "Wee devils more like."

"Aye," Fergus said, wiping his forehead.

After a moment or two, Merida said warily, "Should we just try to get to sleep then?"

"Yeah, but first I'm going to go check on your mum, she's in with them," Fergus said.

Oh dear. If Elinor had been called in, that meant that the servants and maids had already failed miserably, and even now, Elinor was not winning against them. If Elinor couldn't calm them down, Merida knew that there was no point in trying to go to sleep, but there had to be something to be done; the kingdom couldn't be run properly when the monarchs were short on bed rest.

So, Merida simply shrugged and walked down the stone steps into the throne room. She passed through the room quite easily, though she could barely see. She knew her way around the castle quite well.

She came presently enough at the kitchen. She went in and ten minutes later, came out, a tray of bannocks and cups of warm milk on it.

She made her way through the throne room, up the stairs, past her parents' room and her room toward the end of the hall where the boys resided. Balancing her tray on her hand, she easily opened the door.

The torches on the walls were still lit and so were the boys. The four-years-olds were bouncing on their bed, their weary mother right next to them, wearing a robe over her long, dark green nightgown, holding out her hands in protest.

"Boys, you must stop this!" Elinor said as sternly as she could before she started to yawn.

Merida shook her head. Elinor was not exactly the stern, calm queen in the middle of the night with three energetic boys bouncing up and down on their bed. The princess came through the door, saying loudly in a gentle tone, "Boys!"

All at once, their three heads turned, and so did Elinor's. Merida held up the tray excitedly and said, "Brought you a snack!"

The boys immediately stopped their jumping as Merida came to their bed. Kneeling beside it, she placed the tray on top of the bed and said, "All right, calm down."

Elinor, yawning, took a seat in the rocking chair as Merida passed around the snacks.

"Can I get ya something, Mum?" Merida asked once the three boys started munching.

"No, I'm fine," the queen said, one hand at her forehead.

Merida, turning, shrugged and took a bannock.

After a few minutes the cakes and warm milk had disappeared, and the three pairs of little blue eyes started to droop, one at a time.

Smiling, Merida took them one by one and put them at the head of the bed. She smoothed the bedspread and tucked it around their little necks. They yawned and rolled over into comfortable positions.

They gently started to snore, and Merida smiled. She went over to Elinor and helped her up.

Once at the door, Elinor thanked her, said good night, and then went forth to her own room.

Merida nodded and just before she closed the door, she peeked in at the boys.

"Night, boys," she said softly, and she closed the door.

_Even when you're making too much noise_

_You will always be my _

_Little brothers_

_'Cause you're younger_

_We're related and you're boys_

"Boys?" Merida said sneakingly. Now sixteen-years-old, she crept about the castle, seeking her little brothers. They seemed to think that they'd win this game of hide and seek. She highly doubted it. She was a very good hider and sneeker.

So were the boys. She knew that they knew much of the castle after the Big Bear Caper, as it had been called. Still, she was not about to let them win.

"Boys?" she giggled. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a little tuft of red hair at the level of the boys' heads.

She swiftly went about the walls and then pounced on the triplet from behind a corner. He let out a little squeal as she pulled him out of the floor where he had been hiding.

"Harris!" she said excitedly, holding him up for her to see.

_Little brothers_

Harris giggled and she swung him to the top of her shoulder before saying, "Let's go find your brothers."

The two of them walked stealthily around the castle, pausing for any sign of movement or any noise in the tapestry.

"See 'em yet?" she asked, turning her head so that she could see blue eyes and red hair.

Harris shook his head and Merida, shrugging, said, "All right then."

They passed by the animal trophy room where Fergus kept the skins and heads of his finest kills. The skins and heads were either on a plaque on the wall or stuffed and laid tastefully around the room.

Merida, squinting her eyes, looked around carefully. On the giant mantle over the huge fire in the fireplace was a bunch of stuff owls, but one was _moving_.

Merida, a curious look on her face, walked toward the mantle, and she pointed to the stuffed owl. Harris eagerly grabbed the head of the owl and pulled it, revealing Hubert.

"Hubert!" Merida laughed. He giggled and jumped into her arms. "Dad's going to kill you for unstuffing his owl."

Hubert shrugged as he slid down her and wrapped his legs and arms around her left leg.

_Little brothers_

Merida smirked and then said thoughtfully, "Now, where could the last wee bairn be?" After a minute she snapped her fingers and said, "The kitchen!"

A moment later, she opened the kitchen door wide and said loudly, "Now, I wonder where Hamish could be?"

She stumbled a little on the steps as Harris hugged her neck and Hubert clung to her leg. Once at the bottom of the steps, she looked around. The maids were quietly doing their duties, cooking food over spits and making tea.

"Hamish," Merida whispered slowly, "Hammmiisssshhhhh."

She waited a moment and then stopped moving when she heard giggling coming from a barrel.

The two brothers on her giggled as she sneakingly walked toward the giggling barrel. After a second of suspense, she grabbed the top of the barrel and pulled it off, yelling, "Ha!"

She peeked down into the barrel to see a giggling Hamish eating a bannock.

"Found ya, ya rascal!" Merida said excitedly as she reached in and grabbed Hamish. He shrieked as she brought him out and placed him on the floor, and on a sudden little whim, she began to tickle Hamish.

He laughed loudly as she tickled him. After a second, the other two triplets began to tickle Merida.

"Ahh! You guys!" she shrieked and she proceeded to tickle them silly, no matter what way the maids and servants looked at them.

_Little brothers. _

**There you go! My first Brave fanfic! THEY'RE SO CUTE I CAN'T EVEN. I hope you liked it and thank you for reading!**


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